Advertisements and content may be displayed in between and during the subject portions of television programming. Advertisements are the primary source of revenue for television networks and a major component in the generation of revenue for advertisers. In one example, advertisements are typically ten to ninety seconds in length, and are grouped together as pre-selected breaks in the broadcast of a program, typically occurring from every few to every fifteen minutes of programming. In another example, advertising may be accomplished by subtly placing products within the subject portion of a broadcast, such as during movies, sitcoms, sporting events, etc. The number of advertisements and the timing between the placement of the advertisements is dependent on the type of program and the format of the program (e.g., live or pre-recorded). Television programming typically includes approximately sixteen minutes of advertisements during every hour of programming, providing a large amount of time to present information to consumers. Many advertisers use this time as their primary avenue for promoting products, content, services, and events to consumers.
Television advertising and content is generally more effective when aired during popular television programs that are watched by many viewers who are interested in the types of products or services being advertised. “Targeted advertising” refers to identifying a group of people as being those that have the greatest interest in what is being advertised, and providing the most favorable situation in which the advertisement will reach that pre-determined group of consumers. Advertisers reach these predetermined groups by strategically placing advertisements and content based on the time of the day, the popularity of a subject program, and the type of advertisement or content shown. Displaying an advertisement to a large audience results in more potential consumers receiving the advertisement, which is likely to result in more revenue being generated. In determining whether a television program may be appropriate for a particular advertisement, advertisers consider viewer categories such as age, gender, income level, and viewer interests.
Broadcasting networks and advertisers are able to gauge which demographic groups are watching which programs using conventional market research tools. For example, the AC Nielsen™ ratings system tracks television viewing activities by sampling a plurality of households, and estimating the number of viewers of particular programs using the viewing activity data.
To gauge the effectiveness of their spending, advertisers have long sought information related to potential consumer viewing patterns. There are several conventional devices and techniques that exist for gathering such information. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,386 issued to Cheung discloses “an apparatus for television audience analysis comprising means for monitoring a television receiver, means responsive to a monitored signal for storing information representative of channel identification and of the time at which a channel is selected and at which the selection of a channel is terminated, and means for reading the stored information periodically.”
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,030 issued to Nickerson, et al., discloses “a data storage and transmission system for accumulating and transmitting data from a plurality of remote T.V. panelist locations to a central location. Each remote unit includes a microprocessor, a control memory, and a data store memory. The control memory stores control information for the remote unit, which may include dynamic allocation information. The data store memory is event driven and stores data as to television channel selection and times thereof, and can store viewer reaction data and the like. At a pre-selected time, each remote unit initiates a telephone call to a central location and identifies itself. Upon successful telephone connection between a remote unit and the central location, any data such as viewer habit and/or reaction data and the like contained in the data store memory is transmitted over the telephone line to the central location.”
Other conventional systems and methods provide somewhat more use data than only channel numbers viewed and the time of viewing, such as which products panelists purchase. U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,904 issued to McKenna, et al., discloses “a data gathering system including a plurality of remote units which are controlled from a central location. Each of the remote units are attached to a television receiver which is generally, but not necessarily, attached to a cable system. Each of the remote units may function to determine which of several TV modes is in use as well as to store TV channel selector data, data from an optical input device, and/or data input by viewers representative of the composition of the viewing audience. The data is stored for either later collection by a portable data collector, or for direct transmission via telephone to the central location. A video message for a TV viewer, such as a survey, may be transmitted from the central location and stored at the remote units, for later display on the TV receiver associated with the remote units. The substitution of alternate programming information may also be achieved by the central control point on selected of the remote units.”
Conventionally, panelist monitoring may be used to gauge the effectiveness of advertising and content on a selected group of panelists. Nevertheless, while panelist monitoring systems like those described above provide somewhat more monitoring data than just TV tuning data, they do so only for limited groups. For example, when more data is gathered (like purchase information), it is done only for the panelist groups, rather than for subscribers of the entire system.
Conventional systems typically capture ratings information that identifies which television shows are viewed, rather than whether the subscriber also viewed the commercials displayed during those shows. What is important to an advertiser is that potential consumers are interested in an advertisement enough to sit through its duration. There is a great deal of money invested in advertising, with the hopes that it will return even greater profits. Conventional systems do not result in adequate amounts of viewing information and feedback being generated, and are not efficient in presenting the information to and rewarding viewers for participating in television programming.
Accordingly, there is a need for gathering more detailed viewer information, establishing two-way communication with a viewer in order to collect the detailed information, and systems and methods for processing the detailed information in order to accomplish the goals of both a viewer and a provider, such as requesting certain types of information and receiving information and incentives based upon viewer participation.